


Family Dog

by toushindai (WallofIllusion)



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Canon Death Mechanics, Cerberus is the Best Boy, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, International Dog Day, Pre-Clear, Update spoilers, late-game spoilers, three heads means three times the cuddling!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-10-01 21:24:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20409589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WallofIllusion/pseuds/toushindai
Summary: Zagreus gives himself a moment’s rest with Cerberus in the Temple of Styx. It gets interrupted. [100% Big Bad Update spoilers.]





	Family Dog

**Author's Note:**

> It's International Dog Day! I finished this just in time.
> 
> Mind the tag warnings please.

He stumbles out of the temple’s back corridors with blood dripping down his face and a persistent ringing in his ears. He’s feeling everything at about a five-foot remove, which is good when it comes to the pain radiating from the fracture in his left leg but less good when he actually has to fight. Which he will, again. He hasn’t even found anything for Cerberus yet. But if heads into the tunnels right now, he’ll be dead in seconds. And then he’ll wind up all the way back home. Again. 

He spends a full minute staring at the entrances to the tunnels, trying to will up the determination to go get himself killed. Then, instead, he goes to Cerberus.

Three pairs of furry red ears perk up as he approaches, and Zagreus holds his empty hands up apologetically. “Sorry, boy,” he says. “Nothing yet. But can I just…” He gestures vaguely in lieu of finishing his sentence and, when Cerberus tilts one head in question, indicates what he means by going ahead and doing it: he plops down next to the enormous dog and slumps back against him. The protest of his broken leg grows briefly urgent and he shifts, teeth gritted, until it recedes into the distance again. He exhales. He needs this. Just for a minute.

One of Cerberus’s heads makes a thin whine—concerned about Zagreus, or maybe about the fact that Zagreus is interrupting his duty without even bribing him first. Zagreus isn’t sure which, until another head extends its tongue to lick gently at the cut on his head and the third nuzzles his shoulder. Zagreus relaxes a bit. “Careful, boy,” he murmurs. But the hound _is_ careful, without being told, and this—this is nice. He breathes just a little easier. When he closes his eyes and buries his face in Cerberus’s thick fur, he can remember the past, if not fully pretend that he’s back there. He used to fall asleep snuggled up with Cerberus like this. Now, he can’t tell whether he’s falling asleep or simply losing consciousness as he breathes in the familiar (though not inherently pleasant) smell of dog. He might be dying. Finished off belatedly by a satyr’s poison, or something. But Cerberus is with him, at least. There are worse ways to go, and he’s experienced quite a few of them. Between stretches of cozy non-thought, he wonders how he’ll appear on Hypnos’s list this time, and he hopes Cerberus won’t be too startled when the waters of the Styx claim him. 

Some indistinct time later, a familiar gruff sound.

“There you are. I should have known I’d find you here, boy.”

Zagreus startles awake, stomach clenching, wondering how he let his father catch him asleep on Cerberus again. He hates that, he’ll lecture him for sure—but as he scrambles frantically to his feet, pain shoots up his left leg and yanks him back into the present. Right. The Temple of Styx. The surface. His father here to stop him personally, time after time. Hades glares down at him, and his lips crack into a cruel smirk as Zagreus stumbles, but Zagreus just glares back. He’s holding onto Cerberus with one hand for balance, but he’s standing.

Hades sneers at his defiance, as ever. “Were you planning to face me in that state? No wonder I find you lazing about here instead.”

But Zagreus isn’t a child caught in a moment of naughtiness anymore. He meets his father’s critical gaze without flinching. “Lazing about? I’ve been throwing myself headlong into this for who knows how long, hardly taking a moment’s rest to myself. Are you certain ‘lazy’ is the insult you want to go with here?”

“It is. You _are_ lazy, engaging in this nonsense rather than making yourself useful around here. Sooner or later, I’ll grind it into your head that your place is back in the House.”

“No you won’t.”

Hades narrows his eyes. “And what do you think the alternative is, you stupid boy? Should I kill you here, or wait until you bribe your way past Cerberus once more?” The hellhound gives a guilty whine, one muzzle buried against Zagreus’s back like he’s trying to hide. Zagreus almost stumbles again. But for once Hades lets an opportunity to mock him go by, instead giving a heavy sigh and speaking tolerantly. “It isn’t your fault, Cerberus, I know that. You’d still be resting comfortably at home if it weren’t for this boy’s obdurate foolishness—”

“Or if you would just leave him there instead of dragging him onto duty,” Zagreus points out.

Hades’ eyes turn hard again as he turns them back to his son. “Don’t interrupt me, boy.”

“Oh, am I interrupting? You know, you could be sitting comfortably on your throne right now, working on all that paperwork you love. No one’s actually forcing you to come out here. And you _certainly_ don’t have to get Cerberus involved. That’s all on you, Father.”

“On _me_?” Black rage twists Hades’ face and he takes one enormous step forward, the temple walls quaking with his footfall. Zagreus’s stomach plunges. But pain makes him slow, and before he can reach for Coronacht, Cerberus is on his feet with one head bowed low and protective over his shoulder. Zagreus feels rather than hears the rumble of a growl in his throat. 

Hades stills. His eyes are dark with stony indignation, but when he speaks, his voice only sounds tired. “Cerberus.”

The hound whines with one mouth and gives a muffled bark with another. The head curled around Zagreus continues its barely audible growl. His posture is strained, and Zagreus glances backwards to see his tail tucked halfway between his back legs, quivering nervously. Zagreus reaches up and combs his fingers through the scruff at Cerberus’s neck. “Thank you, boy,” he murmurs.

Hades groans in exasperation. “You thank him for this? For turning aside from his duty and defying me, out of some misguided fondness—”

“Father, please.” His voice comes out hard, not pleading, because he is angry and he’s tired of this. “He’s fond of you, too, and if you didn’t keep dragging him into this, he wouldn’t have to choose between us.”

“_I’m_ dragging him into this? Preventing escape from my realm is his _job_.”

“Which we both know by now he’s just not going to do when it comes to me. Why do you bother?”

Truth be told, Zagreus doesn’t really want him to stop; he’s glad to see Cerberus so near to his goal every time. For now it means he gets a moment’s rest and affection before his father beats him to death to stop him from achieving the one thing that matters to him, and someday it will mean that he gets to say one last goodbye. But as Cerberus looks between father and son now, Zagreus only feels empathy towards the poor dog’s divided loyalties and resentment towards his father for putting them all in this position.

Hades’ lip curls as he fixes his burning glare on Zagreus, careful not to turn the weight of his rage towards Cerberus. He doesn’t answer Zagreus’s accusation. He only scoffs, at last.

“Fine! He can make whatever choice he wants, and I won’t stop him. It hardly matters when I will put an end to your foolishness myself as soon as you step through that door.”

Zagreus sends him a clipped smile. “Then why don’t you step outside and wait there for me, Father? I’ll just be a moment.”

“Don’t you give me that cheek, boy,” Hades snarls. “You won’t even make it _to_ the door this time.”

But he turns and stomps out of the temple, thus doing exactly what Zagreus suggested. As the heavy door swings shut again, erasing the sliver of moonlight that plays across Cerberus’s fur for a brief moment, Zagreus exhales. His knees and the muscles behind his shoulders quiver with exhaustion, and his leg has gone numb in that peculiar way that means his brain has given up on communicating pain to him. But he’s not dead of poison, and his father hasn’t killed him right in front of Cerberus, so. Small mercies, here. He wraps his arms around the closest of Cerberus’s necks, buries his face in his fur, and embraces his friend.

“I’m sorry about all of this, boy,” he says, his words muffled. “You know you mean a lot to me, don’t you?” A quiet yip of affirmation, and one of Cerberus’s gigantic tongues dragging affectionately through Zagreus’s hair. Zagreus squeezes a little tighter. “I’m really going to miss you when I get out.”

For a moment, he lets himself feel the hound’s body move as he breathes. But then he steps back, catches himself from staggering, and sighs. He’s still in no shape to fight.

“Just this once,” he says with a wry smile, “would you let me through without a snack?” Cerberus sends three baleful looks his way, and Zagreus nods understanding. “No, I know. You have your guard duty, and you take it seriously. The Underworld’s better with you in it.”

It’s just that’s never been true of Zagreus, so he’s got to get out of here. And if his father doesn’t like that, he’s going to have to kill Zagreus himself. He refuses to die among these vermin here. Not this time, not after that little confrontation.

“Wish me luck, boy,” he says, and he manages a flicker of optimism. He hopes Cerberus will find his smile reassuring. “I’ll be back in just a few minutes, so I hope you’re hungry!”

Cerberus’s tail thumps once against the ground, and two of his mouths loll open eagerly. He barks once. For an enormous, allegedly (and factually) vicious watchdog of hell, he is unbearably cute, sometimes. Zagreus reaches up to scritch behind his ear one more time. Then he turns towards the temple’s back tunnels, favoring his bad leg, and resumes his search for a delicious treat for his best boy.


End file.
